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WINTER 



BY 



JAMES THOMSON 



ILLUSTRATED 



ESTES AND LAURIAT 
PUBLISHERS 



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Copyright, 1892, 
By ESTES and LAURIAT. 



Typography by J. S. Gushing & Co., Boston. 
Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston. 




WINTER. 



SEE, Winter comes to rule the varied year, 
Sullen and sad, with all his rising train ; 
Vapours, and clouds, and storms. Be these 

my theme ; 
These, that exalt the soul to solemn thought 
And heavenly musing. Welcome, kindred 
glooms ! 

7 



K\)t Reasons. 



Congenial horrors, hail! with frequent foot, 
Pleased have I, in my cheerful morn of life, 
When nursed by careless solitude I lived, 
And sung of Nature with unceasing joy, 
Pleased have I wandered through your rough 

domain ; 
Trod the pure virgin snows, myself as pure ; 
Heard the winds roar, and the big torrent 

burst ; 
Or seen the deep-fermenting tempest brewed, 
In the grim evening sky. Thus passed the 

time, 
Till through the lucid chambers of the south 
Looked out the joyous Spring, looked out, and 

smiled. 
To thee, the patron of this first essay, 
The Muse, O Wilmington! renews her song. 
Since has she rounded the revolving year : 
Skimmed the gay Spring ; on eagle-pinions 

borne. 
Attempted through the Summer-blaze to rise ; 
Then swept o'er Autumn with the shadowy 

gale ; 
And now among the wintry clouds again. 



Minter. 

Rolled in the doubling storm, she tries to 

soar ; 
To swell her note with all the rushing winds ; 
To suit her sounding cadence to the floods ; ' 
As is her theme, her numbers wildly great :' 
Thrice happy could she fill thy judging ear' 
With bold description, and with ''manly 

thought. 
Nor art thou skilled in awful schemes alone, 
And how to make a mighty people thrive ; 
But equal goodness, sound integrity, 
A firm, unshaken, uncorrupted soul 
Amid a sliding age ; and, burning strong, 
Not vainly blazing, for thy country's weal, 
A steady spirit regularly free — 
These, each exalting each, the statesman 

light 
Into the patriot ; these, the public hope 
And eye to thee converting, bid the Muse 
Record what envy dares not flattery call. 
Now when the cheerless empire of the 
sky 

To Capricorn the Centaur-Archer yields, 
And fierce Aquarius stains the inverted year; 
9 



^\}t .Seasons. 



Hung o'er the farthest verge of heaven, the 

sun 
Scarce spreads o'er ether the dejected day. 
Faint are his gleams, and ineffectual shoot 
His struggling rays, in horizontal lines. 
Through the thick air ; as, clothed in cloudy 

storm. 
Weak, wan, and broad, he skirts the southern 

sky : 
And, soon-descending, to the long dark night, 
Wide-shading all, the prostrate world resigns. 
Nor is the night unwished ; while vital heat, 
Light, life, and joy, the dubious day forsake. 
Meantime, in sable cincture, shadows vast, 
Deep-tinged and damp, and congregated 

clouds. 
And all the vapoury turbulence of heaven, 
Involve the face of things. Thus Winter 

falls, 
A heavy gloom oppressive o'er the world. 
Through Nature shedding influence malign, 
And rouses up the seeds of dark disease. 
The soul of man dies in him, loathing life. 
And black with more than melancholy views. 

ID 



I 



Mintcr. 

The cattle droop ; and o^er the furrowed land, 
Fresh from the plough, the dun-discoloured 

flocks, 
Untended spreading, crop the wholesome root. 
Along the woods, along the moorish fens. 
Sighs the sad genius of the coming storm ; 
And up among the loose disjointed cliffs, 
And fractured mountains wild, the brawling 

brook 
And cave, presageful, send a hollow moan, 
Resounding long in listening Fancy's ear. 

Then comes the father of the tempest forth. 
Wrapt in black glooms. First joyless rains 

obscure 
Drive through the mingling skies with vapour 

foul ; 
Dash on the mountain's brow, and shake the 

woods, 
That grumbling wave below. The unsightly 

• plain 
Lies a brown deluge ; as the low-bent clouds 
Pour flood on flood, yet unexhausted still 
Combine, and deepening into night, shut up 
The day's fair face . The wanderers of heaven, 
13 



W{)t Reasons. 



Each to his home, retire ; save those that love 
To take their pastime in the troubled air, 
Or skimming flutter round the dimply pool ; 
The cattle from the untasted fields return, 
And ask, with meaning low, their wonted 

stalls, 
Or ruminate in the contiguous shade. 
Thither the household feathery people crowd, 
The crested cock, with all his female train. 
Pensive and dripping ; while the cottage-hind 
Hangs o'er the enlivening blaze, and taleful 

there 
Recounts his simple frolic : much he talks. 
And much he laughs, nor recks the storm 

that blows 
Without, and rattles on his humble roof. 
Wide o'er the brim, with many a torrent 
swelled, 
And the mixed ruin of its banks overspread, 
At last the roused-up river pours along : 
Resistless, roaring, dreadful, down it comes, 
From the rude mountain, and the mossy wild. 
Tumbling through rocks abrupt, and sound- 
ing far ; 

14 



Mintcr. 



Then o'er the sanded valley floating spreads, 
Calm, sluggish, silent ; till again, constrained 
Between two meeting hills, it bursts away. 
Where rocks and woods o'erhang the turbid 
stream : 




There gathering triple force, rapid and deep, 
It boils and wheels and foams and thunders 

through. 
Nature! great parent! whose unceasing 

hand i 5 



E|)e Reasons. 



Rolls round the seasons of the changeful 

year, 
How mighty, how majestic, are thy works! 
With what a pleasing dread they swell the 

soul, 
That sees astonished, and astonished sings! 
Ye too, ye winds, that now begin to blow 
With boisterous sweep, I raise my voice to 

you. 
Where are your stores, ye powerful beings! 

say. 
Where your aerial magazines, reserved 
To swell the brooding terrors of the storm ? 
In what far distant region of the sky. 
Hushed in deep silence, sleep you when 't is 

calm ? 
When from the pallid sky the Sun descends 
With many a spot, that o'er his glaring orb. 
Uncertain wanders, stained ; red fiery streaks 
Begin to flush around. The reeling clouds 
Stagger with dizzy poise, as doubting yet 
Which master to obey : while rising slow. 
Blank, in the leaden-coloured east, the Moon 
Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns, 
i6 



Wintrr. 

Seen through the turbid fluctuating air, 
The stars obtuse emit a shivering ray ; 
Or frequent seem to shoot athwart the gloom. 
And long behind them trail the whitening 

blaze. 
Snatched in short eddies, plays the withered 

leaf; 
And on the flood the dancing feather floats. 
With broadened nostrils to the sky upturned, 
The conscious heifer snuft's the stormy gale. 
E'en as the matron, at her nightly task, 
With pensive labour draws the flaxen thread, 
The wasted taper and the crackling flame 
Foretell the blast. But chief the plumy race, 
The tenants of the sky, its changes speak. 
Retiring from the downs, where all day long 
They picked their scanty fare, a blackening 

train 
Of clamorous rooks thick urge their weary 

• flight, 
And seek the closing shelter of the grove. 
Assiduous, in his bower, the wailing owl 
Plies his sad song. The cormorant on high 
Wheels from the deep, and screams along the 

land. 17 



SDfje Reasons. 



Loud shrieks the soaring hern ; and with wild 

wing 
The circling seafowl cleave the flaky clouds. 
Ocean, unequal pressed, with broken tide 
And blind commotion heaves ; while from the 

shore, 
Eat into caverns by the restless wave, 
And forest-rustling mountain, comes a voice, 
That solemn-sounding bids the world prepare. 
Then issues forth the storm with sudden 

burst. 
And hurls the whole precipitated air 
Down in a torrent. On the passive main 
Descends the ethereal force, and with strong 

gust 
Turns from its bottom the discoloured deep. 
Through the black night, that sits immense 

around, 
Lashed into foam, the fierce conflicting brine 
Seems o'er a thousand raging waves to burn. 
Meantime the mountain-billows, to the clouds 
In dreadful tumult swelled, surge above surge. 
Burst into chaos with tremendous roar. 
And anchored navies from their stations drive, 
i8 



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1 






Winter, 



Wild as the winds across the howling waste 
Of mighty waters : now the inflated wave 
Straining they scale, and now impetuous shoot 
Into the secret chambers of the deep, 
The wintry Baltic thundering o'er their head. 
Emerging thence again, before the breath 
Of full exerted heaven they wing their course, 
And dart on distant coasts ; if some sharp 

rock, 
Or shoal insidious break not their career. 
And in loose fragments fling them floating 

round. 
Nor less at land the loosened tempest 

reigns. 
The mountain thunders ; and its sturdy sons 
Stoop to the bottom of the rocks they shade. 
Lone on the midnight steep, and all aghast. 
The dark wayfaring stranger breathless toils, 
And, often falling, climbs against the blast. 
Low waves the rooted forest, vexed, and 

sheds 
What of its tarnished honours yet remain ; 
Dashed down, and scattered, by the tearing 

wind's 

21 



2r!)e Reasons. 



Assiduous fury, its gigantic limbs. 
Thus struggling through the dissipated grove. 
The whirling tempest raves along the plain ; 
And on the cottage thatched, or lordly roof, 
Keen-fastening, shakes them to the solid 

base. 
Sleep frighted flies ; and round the rocking 

dome, 
For entrance eager, howls the savage blast. 
Then too, they say, through all the burdened 

air. 
Long groans are heard, shrill sounds, and 

distant sighs. 
That, uttered by the Demon of the night, 
Warn the devoted wa-etch of woe and death. 
Huge uproar lords it wide. The clouds, 

commixed 
With stars, swift gliding, sweep along the 

sky. 
All Nature reels : till Nature's king, who oft 
Amid tempestuous darkness dwells alone, 
And on the wings of the careering wind 
Walks dreadfully serene, commands a calm ; 
Then straight, air, sea, and earth are hushed 

at once. 22 



TOinter, 

As yet 'tis midnight deep. The weary 
clouds, 
Slow meeting, mingle into solid gloom. 
Now, while the drowsy world lies lost in 

sleep, 
Let me associate with the serious Night, 
And Contemplation, her sedate compeer ; 
Let me shake off the intrusive cares of day, 
And lay the meddling senses all aside. 
Where now, ye lying vanities of life! 
Ye ever tempting, ever cheating train! 
Where are you now? and what is your 

amount ? 
Vexation, disappointment, and remorse : 
Sad, sickening thought ! and yet deluded man, 
A scene of crude disjointed visions past, 
And broken slumbers, rises still resolved. 
With new-flushed hopes, to run the giddy 
round. 
• Father of light and life ! thou Good Su- 
preme ! 
O teach me what is good! teach me thyself! 
Save me from folly, vanity, and vice. 
From every low pursuit! and feed my soul 
23 



9rf}c Reasons. 



With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue 

pure — 
Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss ! 

The keener tempests come : and fuming 

dun 
From all the livid east, or piercing north, 
Thick clouds ascend ; in whose capacious 

womb 
A vapoury deluge lies, to snow congealed. 
Heavy they roll their fleecy world along ; 
And the sky saddens with the gathered 

storm. 
Through the hushed air the whitening shower 

descends, 
At first thin wavering ; till at last the flakes 
Fall broad, and wide, and fast, dimming the 

day 
With a continual flow. The cherished fields 
Put on their winter-robe of purest white. 
'T is brightness all ; save where the new snow 

melts 
Along the mazy current. Low^ the woods 
Bow their hoar head ; and ere the languid 

sun 

24 



rainter. 

Faint from the west emits its evening ray, 
Earth's universal face, deep-hid and chill, 
Is one wild dazzling waste, that buries wide 




The works of man. Drooping, the labourer- 



ox 



Stands covered o'er with snow, and then de- 
mands 

25 



Wijz .Seasons. 



The fruit of all his toil. The fowls of heaven, 
Tamed by the cruel season, crowd around 
The winnowing store, and claim the little 

boon 
Which Providence assigns them. One alone, 
The redbreast, sacred to the household gods. 
Wisely regardful of the embroiling sky. 
In joyless fields and thorny thickets leaves 
His shivering mates, and pays to trusted man 
His annual visit. Half afraid, he first 
Against the window beats ; then, brisk, alights 
On the warm hearth ; then, hoppmg o'er the 

floor. 
Eyes all the smiling family askance, 
And pecks, and starts, and wonders where 

he is ; 
Till more familiar grown, the table-crumbs 
Attract his slender feet. The foodless wilds 
Pour forth their brown inhabitants. The 

hare. 
Though timorous of heart, and hard beset 
By death in various forms, dark snares and 

dogs. 
And more unpitying men, the garden seeks, 
26 



Urged on by fear^.ess want. The bleating 

kind 
Eye the bleak heaven, and next the glistening 

earth, 
With looks of dumb despair ; then, sad dis- 
persed, 
Dig for the withered herb through heaps of 
snow. 
Now, shepherds, to your helpless charge be 
kind, 
Baffle the raging year, and fill their pens 
With food at will ; lodge them below the 

storm. 
And watch them strict : for from the bellow- 
ing east. 
In this dire season, oft the whirlwind's wing 
Sweeps up the burden of whole wintry plains 
In one wide waft, and o'er the hapless flocks, 
Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills, 
The billowy tempest whelms ; till, upward 

urged. 
The valley to a shining mountain swells. 
Tipped with a wreath high-curling in the sky. 
As thus the snows arise, and, foul and fierce, 
29 



W^t Reasons. 



All Winter drives along the darkened air, 
In his own loose-revolving fields, the swain 
Disastered stands ; sees other hills ascend, 
Of unknown joyless brow ; and other scenes, 
Of horrid prospect, shag the trackless plain : 
Nor finds the river, nor the forest, hid 
Beneath the formless wild ; but wanders on 
From hill to dale, still more and more astray ; 
Impatient flouncing through the drifted heaps, 
Stung with the thoughts of home ; the 

thoughts of home 
Rush on his nerves, and call their vigour 

forth 
In many a vain attempt. How sinks his soul! 
What black despair, what horror fills his 

heart! 
When for the dusky spot, which fancy feigned 
His tufted cottage, rising through the snow, 
He meets the roughness of the middle waste, 
Far from the track and blessed abode of 

man ; 
While round him night resistless closes fast. 
And every tempest, howling o'er his head. 
Renders the savage wilderness more wild. 
30 




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Then throng the busy shapes into his mind, 
Of covered pits, unfathomably deep, 
A dire descent ! beyond the power of frost ; 
Of faithless bogs ; of precipices huge, 
Smoothed up with snow ; and, what is land 

unknown, 
What water, of the still unfrozen spring, 
In the loose marsh or solitary lake. 
Where the fresh fountain from the bottom 

boils. 
These check his fearful steps ; and down he 

sinks. 
Beneath the shelter of the shapeless drift. 
Thinking o"er all the bitterness of death ; 
Mixed with the tender anguish nature shoots 
Through the wrung bosom of the dying man. 
His wife, his children, and his friends unseen. 
In vain for him the officious wife prepares 
The fire fair-blazing, and the vestment warm ; 
In vain his little children, peeping out 
Into the mingling storm, demand their sire, 
With tears of artless innocence. Alas! 
Nor wife, nor children more shall he behold, 
Nor friends, nor sacred home. On every 

nerve 33 



W^t Reasons. 



The deadly winter seizes ; shuts up sense ; 
And, o'er his inmost vitals creeping cold, 
Lays him along the snows, a stiffened corse, 
Stretched out, and bleaching in the northern 
blast. 
Ah ! little think the gay licentious proud, 
Whom pleasure, power, and affluence sur- 
round ; 
They who their thoughtless hours in giddy 

mirth, 
And wanton, often cruel, riot waste ; 
Ah! little think they, while they dance along, 
How many feel, this very moment, death, 
And all the sad variety of pain. 
How many sink in the devouring flood, 
Or more devouring flame. How many bleed, 
By shameful variance betwixt man and man. 
How many pine in want, and dungeon- 
glooms ; 
Shut from the common air, and common use 
Of their own limbs. How many drink the 

cup 
Of baleful grief, or eat the bitter bread 
Of misery. Sore pierced by wintry winds, 
34 



TOinter, 

How many shrink into the sordid hut 
Of cheerless poverty. How many shake 
With all the fiercer tortures of the mind, 
Unbounded passion, madness, guilt, remorse ; 
Whence tumbled headlong from the height 

of life, 
They furnish matter for the tragic Muse. 
Even in the vale, where wisdom loves to 

dwell, 
With friendship, peace, and contemplation 

joined. 
How many, racked with honest passions, 

droop 
In deep retired distress. How many stand 
Around the death-bed of their dearest friends. 
And point the parting anguish. Thought 

fond man 
Of these, and all the thousand nameless ills 
That one incessant struggle render life. 
One scene of toil, of suiTering, and of fate. 
Vice in his high career would stand appalled, 
And heedless rambling Impulse learn to 

think ; 
The conscious heart of Charity would warm, 
35 



Efje ^cascns. 



And her wide wish Benevolence dilate ; 
The social tear would rise, the social sigh ; 
And into clear perfection, gradual bliss, 
Refining still, the social passions work. 

And here can I forget the generous band. 
Who, touched with human woe, redressive 

searched 
Into the horrors of the gloomy jail — 
Unpitied, and unheard, where Misery moans ; 
Where Sickness pines; where thirst and hun- 
ger burn. 
And poor misfortune feels the lash of vice ? 
While in the land of liberty, the land 
Whose every street and public meeting glow 
With open freedom, little tyrants raged ; 
Snatched the lean morsel from the starving 

mouth ; 
Tore from cold wintry limbs the tattered 

weed ; 
Even robbed them of the last of comforts, 

sleep ; 
The free-born Briton to the dungeon chained, 
Or, as the lust of cruelty prevailed. 
At pleasure marked him with inglorious 
stripes ; 36 



ramter. 



And crushed out lives, by secret barbarous 

ways, 
That for their country would have toiled or 

bled. 




O great design! if executed well, 
With patient care, and wisdom-tempered zeal. 
Ye sons of mercy! yet resume the search ; 
Drag forth the legal monsters into light, 
Wrench from their hands oppression's iron 
rod, 37 



Cfje Reasons. 



And bid the cruel feel the pains they give. 
Much still untouched remains ; in this rank 

age, 
Much is the patriot's weeding hand required. 
The toils of law (what dark insidious men 
Have cumbrous added to perplex the truth, 
And lengthen simple justice into trade), 
How glorious were the day that saw these 

broke, 
And every man within the reach of right ! 

By wintry famine roused, from all the tract 
Of horrid mountains which the shining Alps, 
And wavy Apennines, and Pyrenees, 
Branch out stupendous into distant lands. 
Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave. 
Burning for blood, bony and gaunt and grim, 
Assembling wolves in raging troops descend ; 
And, pouring o'er the country, bear along. 
Keen as the north-wind sweeps the glossy 

snow. 
All is their prize. They fasten on the steed, 
Press him to earth, and pierce his mighty 

heart. 
Nor can the bull his awful front defend, 
38 



raintcr. 

Or shake the murdering savages away. 
Rapacious, at the mother's throat they fly. 
And tear the screaming infant from her 

breast. 
The godhke face of man avails him naught. 
Even beauty, force divine! at whose bright 

glance 
The generous lion stands in softened gaze. 
Here bleeds, a hapless undistinguished prey. 
But if, apprised of the severe attack, 
The country be shut up, lured by the scent. 
On churchyards drear (inhuman to relate!) 
The disappointed prowlers fall, and dig 
The shrouded body from the grave ; o'er 

which. 
Mixed with foul shades and frighted ghosts, 

they howl. 
Among those hilly regions, where, embraced 
In peaceful vales the happy Grisons dwell. 
Oft, rushing sudden from the loaded cliffs. 
Mountains of snow their gathering terrors 

roll. 
From steep to steep, loud-thundering, down 

they come, 

39 



Cj)e Reasons. 



A wintry waste in dire commotion all ; 

And herds, and flocks, and travellers, and 

swains, 
And sometimes whole brigades of marching 

troops, 
Or hamlets sleeping in the dead of night, 
Are deep beneath the smothering ruin 

whelmed. 
Now, all amid the vigours of the year, 
In the wild depth of Winter, while, without, 
The ceaseless winds blow ice, be my retreat 
Between the groaning forest and the shore. 
Beat by the boundless multitude of waves, 
A rural, sheltered, solitary scene ; 
Where ruddy fire and beaming tapers join 
To cheer the gloom. There studious let me 

sit. 
And hold high converse with the mighty 

dead ; 
Sages of ancient time, as gods revered, 
As gods beneficent, who blessed mankind 
With arts, and arms, and humanised a world. 
Roused at the inspiring thought, I throw aside 
The long-lived volume ; and, deep-musing, 

hail 40 



Winter. 

The sacred shades, that, slowly rising, pass 
Before my wondering eyes. First Socrates, 
Who, firmly good in a corrupted state, 
Against the rage of tyrants single stood, 
Invincible ; calm reason's holy law, 
That voice of God within the attentive mind. 
Obeying, fearless, or in life, or death : 
Great moral teacher! Wisest of mankind! 
Solon the next, who built his commonweal 
On equity's wide base ; by tender laws 
A lively people curbing, yet undamped 
Preserving still that quick peculiar fire. 
Whence in the laurelled field of finer arts 
And of bold freedom, they unequalled shone — 
The pride of smiling Greece, and human-kind. 
Lycurgus then, who bowed beneath the force 
Of strictest discipline, severely wise, 
All human passions. Following him, I see. 
As at Thermopylae he glorious fell. 
The firm devoted chief, who proved by deeds 
The hardest lesson which the other taught. 
Then Aristides lifts his honest front ; 
Spotless of heart, to whom the unflattering 
voice 

43 



^Tfjf Reasons. 

Of Freedom gave the noblest name of Just ; 
In pure majestic poverty revered ; 
Who, even his glory to his country's weal 
Submitting, swelled a haughty rival's fame. 
Reared by his care, of softer ray appears 
Cimon, sweet-souled ; whose genius, rising 

strong, 
Shook off the load of young debauch ; abroad 
The scourge of Persian pride, at home the 

friend 
Of every wortli and every splendid art ; 
Modest, and simple, in the pomp of wealth. 
Then the last worthies of declining Greece, 
Late called to glory, in unequal times. 
Pensive appear. The fair Corinthian boast, 
Timoleon, tempered happy, mild and firm, 
Who wept the brother while the tyrant bled : 
And, equal to the best, the Theban Pair, 
Whose virtues, in heroic concord joined, 
Their country raised to freedom, empire, 

fame : 
He too, with whom Athenian honour sunk. 
And left a mass of sordid lees behind — 
Phocion the Good ; in public life severe, 
44 



Winter, 

To virtue still inexorably firm ; 

But when, beneath his low illustrious roof, 

Sweet peace and happy wisdom smoothed his 

brow 
Not friendship softer was, nor love more 

kind : 
And he, the last of old Lycurgus' sons, 
The generous victim to that vain attempt, 
To save a rotten state, Agis, who saw 
Even Sparta's self to servile avarice sunk. 
The two Achaian heroes close the train : 
Aratus, who awhile relumed the soul 
Of fondly lingering liberty in Greece ; 
And he, her darling, as her latest hope. 
The gallant Philopoemen ; who to arms 
Turned the luxurious pomp he could not cure ; 
Or toiling in his farm, a simple swain ; 
Or, bold and skilful, thundering in the field. 

Of rougher front, a mighty people come, 
A race of heroes ! in those virtuous times 
Which knew no stain, save that with partial 

flame 
Their dearest country they too fondly loved. 
Her better founder first, the light of Rome, 
45 



(ITfjc Reasons. 



Niima, who softened her rapacious sons : 
Servius the king, who laid the solid base 
On which o'er earth the vast repubhc spread. 
Then the great consuls venerable rise : 
The public father who the private quelled, 
As on the dread tribunal sternly sad ; 
He whom his thankless country could not 

lose, 
Camillus, only vengeful, to her foes ; 
Fabricius, scorner of all-conquering gold ; 
And Cincinnatus, awful from the plough : 
Thy willing victim, Carthage, bursting loose 
From all that pleading Nature could oppose, 
From a whole city's tears, by rigid faith 
Imperious called, and honour's dire command ; 
Scipio, the gentle chief, humanely brave, 
Who soon the race of spotless glory ran, 
And, warm in youth, to the poetic shade 
With friendship and philosophy retired ; 
Tully, whose powerful eloquence awhile 
Restrained the rapid fate of rushing Rome ; 
Unconquered Cato, virtuous in extreme ; 
And thou, unhappy Brutus, kind of heart, 
W^hose steady arm, by awful virtue urged, 
46 



WiinUx, 

Lifted the Roman steel against thy friend. 
Thousands, besides, the tribute of a verse 
Demand ; but who can count the stars of 

lieaven ? 
Who sing their influence on this lower world ? 
Behold, who yonder comes ! in sober state, 
Fair, mild, and strong, as is a vernal sun : 
'T is Phoebus'' self, or else the Mantuan swain. 
Great Homer too appears, of daring wing, 
Parent of song! and equal by his side. 
The British Muse : joined hand in hand they 

walk. 
Darkling, full up the middle steep to fame. 
Nor absent are those shades, w'hose skilful 

touch 
Pathetic drew the impassioned heart, and 

charmed 
Transported Athens with the moral scene ; 
Nor those who, tuneful, waked the enchanting 

lyre. 
First of your kind! society divine! 
Still visit thus my nights, for you reserved, 
And mount my soaring soul to thoughts like 

yours. 

49 



^})t Reasons. 



Silence, thou lonely power, the door be thine! 
See on the hallowed hour that none intrude, 
Save a few chosen friends, who sometimes 

deign 
To bless my humble roof, with sense refined, 
Learning digested well, exalted faith. 
Unstudied wit, and humour ever gay. 
Or from the Muses" hill will Pope descend, 
To raise the sacred hour, to bid it smile, 
And with the social spirit warm the heart? 
For though not sweeter his own Homer sings. 
Yet is his life the more endearing song. 
Where art thou, Hammond? thou, the 

darling pride. 
The friend and lover of the tuneful throng. 
Ah why, dear youth, in all the blooming prime 
Of vernal genius, where disclosing fast 
Each active worth, each manly virtue lay. 
Why wert thou ravished from our hope so 

soon? 
What now avails that noble thirst of fame 
Which stung thy fervent breast ? that treasured 

store 
Of knowledge early gained? that eager zeal 

50 



To serve thy country, glowing in the band 
Of youthful patriots, who sustain her name? 
What now, alas! that life-diffusing charm 
Of sprightly wit? that rapture for the Muse, 
That heart of friendship, and that soul of joy, 
Which bade with softest light thy virtues 

smile ? 

Ah! only showed, to check our fond pursuits, 

And teach our humbled hopes that life is 

vain! 

Thus in some deep retirement would I pass 

The winter-glooms, with friends of pliant 

soul. 
Or blithe, or solemn, as the theme inspired : 
With them would search, if Nature^s bound- 
less frame 
Was called, late-rising from the void of 

night, 
Or sprung eternal from the eternal mind ; 
Its life, its laws, its progress, and its end. 
Hence larger prospects of the beauteous 

whole 
Would, gradual, open on our opening minds ; 
And each diffusive harmony unite 
51 



C{)0 Reasons. 



In full perfection, to the astonished eye. 
Then would we try to scan the moral world. 
Which, though to us it seems embroiled, 

moves on 
In higher order; fitted and impelled 
By Wisdom^s finest hand, and issuing all 
In general good. The sage historic Muse 
Should next conduct us through the deeps of 

time : 
Show us how empire grew, declined, and fell. 
In scattered states ; what makes the nations 

smile. 
Improves their soil, and gives them double 

suns ; 
And why they pine beneath the brightest 

skies. 
In Nature's richest lap. As thus we talked, 
Our hearts would burn within us, would 

inhale 
That portion of divinity, that ray 
Of purest heaven, which lights the public 

soul 
Of patriots and of heroes. But if doomed. 
In powerless humble fortune, to repress 
52 



rainier. 

These ardent risings of the kindling soul ; 
Then, even superior to ambition, we 
Would learn the private virtues; how to 
oflide 




Through shades and plains, along the smooth- 
est stream 
Of rural life : or, snatched away by hope, 
Through the dim spaces of futurity, 
With earnest eye anticipate those scenes 
53 



Wi)z .Seasons. 



Of happiness and wonder, where the mind, 
In endless growth and infinite ascent, 
Rises from state to state, and world to world. 
But when with these the serious thought is 

foiled, 
We, shifting for relief, would play the shapes 
Of frolic fancy ; and incessant form 
Those rapid pictures, that assembled train 
Of fleet ideas, never joined before, 
Whence lively wit excites to gay surprise ; 
Or folly-painting Humour, grave himself, 
Calls laughter forth, deep-shaking every 

nerve. 
Meantime the village rouses up the fire ; 
While well attested, and as well believed, 
Heard solemn, goes the goblin story round ; 
Till superstitious horror creeps o'er all. 
Or, frequent in the sounding hall, they wake 
The rural gambol. Rustic mirth goes round ; 
The simple joke that takes the shepherd's 

heart, 
Easily pleased ; the long loud laugh, sincere ; 
The kiss, snatched hasty from the side-long 

maid, 

54 



On purpose guardless, or pretending sleep ; 

The leap, the slap, the haul ; and, shook to 
notes 

Of native music, the respondent dance. 

Thus jocund fleets with them the Winter- 
night. 
The. city swarms intense. The public 
haunt, 

Full of each theme and warm with mixed dis- 
course. 

Hums indistinct. The sons of riot flow 

Down the loose stream of false enchanted 

joy? 

To swift destruction. On the rankled soul 
The gaming fury falls ; and in one gulf 
Of total ruin, honour, virtue, peace, 
Friends, families, and fortune, headlong sink. 
Upsprings the dance along the lighted dome, 
Mixed and evolved a thousand sprightly ways ; 
T'he glittering court efliises every pomp ; 
The circle deepens ; beamed from gaudy 

robes. 
Tapers, and sparkling gems, and radiant eyes, 
A soft effulgence o'er the palace waves : 
55 



Ci^e .Seasons. 



While, a gay insect in his summer-shine, 
The fop, hght fluttering, spreads his mealy 
wings. 
Dread o'er the scene, the ghost of Hamlet 
stalks ; 
Othello rages ; poor Monimia mourns ; 
And Belvidera pours her soul in love. 
Terror alarms the breast ; the comely tear 
Steals o'er the cheek : or else the comic Muse 
Holds to the world a picture of itself, 
And raises sly the fair impartial laugh. 
Sometimes she lifts her strain, and paints the 

scenes. 
Of beauteous life ; whatever can deck man- 
kind, 
Or charm the heart, in generous Bevil showed. 
O Thou, whose wisdom, solid, yet refined, 
Whose patriot-virtues, and consummate skill 
To touch the finer springs that move the 

world. 
Joined to whatever the Graces can bestow, 
And all Apollo's animating fire. 
Give thee, with pleasing dignity, to shine 
At once the guardian, ornament, and joy, 
56 



Mtnter, 



Of polished life ; permit the rural Muse, 
O Chesterfield, to grace with thee her song! 
Ere to the shades again she humbly flies, 
Indulge her fond ambition, in thy train 
(For every Muse has in thy train a place), 
To mark thy various full-accomplished mind : 
To mark that spirit, which, with British scorn, 
Rejects the allurements of corrupted power; 
That elegant politeness, which excels, 
Even in the judgment of presumptuous France, 
The boasted manners of her shining court ; 
That wit, the vivid energy of sense, 
The truth of Nature, which, with Attic point 
And kind well-tempered satire, smoothly keen. 
Steals through the soul, and without pain 

corrects. 
Or, rising thence, with yet a brighter flame, 
O let me hail thee on some glorious day. 
When to the listening senate, ardent, crowd 
Bri^tannia's sons to hear her pleaded cause. 
Then dressed by thee, more amiably fair. 
Truth the soft robe of mild persuasion wears ; 
Thou to assenting reason giv'st again 
Her own enlightened thoughts ; called from 

the heart, 59 



Wi)t Reasons* 



The obedient passions on thy voice attend ; 

And even rekictant party feels awhile 

Thy gracious power, as through the varied 

maze 
Of eloquence, now smooth, now quick, now 

strong. 
Profound and clear, you roll the copious 

flood. 
To thy loved haunt return, my happy 

Muse: 
For now, behold, the joyous Winter days, 
Frosty, succeed ; and through the blue serene, 
For sight too fine, the ethereal nitre flies ; 
Killing infectious damps, and the spent air 
Storing afresh with elemental life. 
Close crowds the shining atmosphere ; and 

binds 
Our strengthened bodies in its cold embrace. 
Constringent ; feeds, and animates our blood ; 
Refines our spirits, through the new-strung 

nerves, 
In swifter sallies darting to the brain. 
Where sits the soul, intense, collected, cool. 
Bright as the skies, and as the season keen. 
60 



All Nature feels the renovating force 
Of Winter, only to the thoughtless eye 
In ruin seen. The frost-concocted glebe 




Draws in abundant vegetable soul. 
And gathers vigour for the coming year ; 
A stronger glow sits on the lively cheek 
Of ruddy fire ; and luculent along 
The purer rivers flow, their sullen deeps, 
Transparent, open to the shepherd's gaze, 
6i 



2r!}f Reasons. 



And murmur hoarser at the fixing frost. 
What art thou, frost? and whence are thy 

keen stores 
Derived, thou secret all-invading power, 
Whom even the illusive fluid cannot fly? 
Is not thy potent energy, unseen. 
Myriads of little salts, or hooked, or shaped 
Like double wedges, and diffused immense 
Through water, earth, and ether? hence at 

eve. 
Steamed eager from the red horizon round. 
With the fierce rage of Winter deep suffused. 
An icy gale, oft shifting, o'er the pool 
Breathes a blue film, and in its mid career 
Arrests the bickering stream. The loosened 

ice, 
Let down the flood, and half dissolved by 

day. 
Rustles no more ; but to the sedgy bank 
Fast grows, or gathers round the pointed 

stone, 
A crystal pavement, by the breath of Heaven 
Cemented firm ; till, seized from shore to 

shore, 

62 



The whole imprisoned river growls below. 
Loud rings the frozen earth, and, hard, reflects 
A double noise ; while, at his evening watch. 
The village dog deters the nightly thief; 
The heifer lows ; the distant water-fall 
Swells in the breeze; and, with the hasty 

tread 
Of traveller, the hollow-sounding plain 
Shakes from afar. The full ethereal round, 
Infinite worlds disclosing to the view, 
Shines out intensely keen ; and, all one cope 
Of starry glitter, glows from pole to pole. 
From pole to pole the rigid influence falls. 
Through the still night, incessant, heavy, 

strong. 
And seizes Nature fast. It freezes on ; 
Till Morn, late rising o'er the drooping 

world. 
Lifts her pale eye unjoyous. Then appears 
The various labour of the silent nieht : 
Prone from the dripping eave, and dumb 

cascade 
Whose idle torrents only seem to roar. 
The pendent icicle ; the frost-work fair, 
65 



2li)£ Seasons. 



Where transient hues and fancied figures 

rise ; 
Wide-spouted o'er the hill, the frozen brook, 
A livid tract, cold-gleaming on the morn ; 
The forest bent beneath the plumy wave ; 
And by the frost refined, the whiter snow, 
Incrusted hard, and sounding to the tread 
Of early shepherd, as he pensive seeks 
His pining flock, or from the mountain top. 
Pleased with the slippery surface, swift de- 
scends. 
On blithesome frolics bent, the youthful 
swains, 
While every work of man is laid at rest, 
Fond o'er the river crowd, in various sport 
And revelry dissolved ; where mixing glad. 
Happiest of all the train, the raptured boy 
Lashes the whirling top. Or, where the 

Rhine 
Branched out in many a long canal extends. 
From every province swarming, void of care, 
Batavia rushes forth ; and as they sweep, 
On sounding skates, a thousand different 
ways 

66 



In circling poise, swift as tlie winds, along, 
The then gay land is maddened all to joy. 
Nor less the northern courts, wide o'er the 
snow, 




Pour a new pomp. Eager, on rapid sleds, 
Their vigorous youth in bold contention 

wheel 
The long-resounding course. Meantime, to 

raise 

67 



S^f}c .Reasons. 

The manly strife, with highly blooming 

charms, 
Flushed by the season, Scandinavia's dames, 
Or Russia's buxom daughters, glow around. 
Pure, quick, and sportful is the wholesome 

day ; 
But soon elapsed. The horizontal sun. 
Broad o'er the south, hangs at his utmost 

noon. 
And inelTectual strikes the gelid cliff: 
His azure gloss the mountain still maintains. 
Nor feels the feeble touch. Perhaps the vale 
Relents awhile to the reflected ray ; 
Or from the forest falls the clustered snow, 
Myriads of gems, that in the waving gleam 
Gay-twinkle as they scatter. Thick around 
Thunders the sport of those, who with the 

gun. 
And dog impatient bounding at the shot. 
Worse than the season, desolate the fields ; 
And, adding to the ruins of the year. 
Distress the footed or the feathered game. 

But what is this ? our infant Winter sinks. 
Divested of his grandeur, should our eye 
68 



Astonished shoot into the frigid zone ; 
Where, for relentless months, continual 

Night 
Holds o'er the glittering waste her starry 

reign. 
There, through the prison of unbounded 

wilds, 
Barred by the hand of Nature from escape. 
Wide roams the Russian exile. Naught 

around 
Strikes his sad eye, but deserts lost in snow, 
And heavy-loaded groves, and solid floods, 
That stretch, athwart the solitary vast, 
Their icy horrors to the frozen main ; 
And cheerless towns far distant, never blessed, 
Save when its annual course the caravan 
Bends to the golden coast of rich Cathay, 
With news of human-kind. Yet there life 

glows ; 
Yet cherished there, beneath the shining 

waste. 
The furry nations harbour : tipped with jet. 
Fair ermines, spotless as the snows they 

press ; 

69 



(irf)c Seasons. 



Sables, of glossy black ; and dark-embrowned, 
Or beauteous freaked with many a mingled 

hue, 
Thousands besides, the costly pride of courts. 
There, warm together pressed, the trooping 

deer 
Sleep on the new-fallen snows ; and, scarce 

his head 
Raised o'er the heapy wreath, the branching 

elk 
Lies slumbering sullen in the white abyss. 
The ruthless hunter wants nor dogs nor toils, 
Nor with the dread of sounding bows he 

drives 
The fearful, flying race ; with ponderous 

clubs. 
As, weak, against the mountain-heaps they 

push 
Their beating breast in vain, and piteous 

bray. 
He lays them quivering on the ensanguined 

snows. 
And with loud shouts rejoicing bears them 

home. 

70 



M inter. 

There, through the piny forest, half-absorpt, 
Rough tenant of these shades, the shapeless 

bear, 
With danghng ice all horrid, stalks forlorn ; 
Slow-paced, and sourer as the storms increase, 
He makes his bed beneath the inclement 

drift, 
And, with stern patience, scorning weak com- 
plaint, 
Hardens his heart against assailing want. 
Wide o'er the spacious regions of the 
north. 
That see Bootes urge his tardy wain, 
A boisterous race, by frosty Caurus pierced. 
Who little pleasure know and fear no pain, 
Prolific swarm. They once relumed the 

flame 
Of lost mankind in polished slavery sunk ; 
Drove martial horde on horde, with dreadful 

sweep 
Resistless rushing o''er the enfeebled south, 
And gave the vanquished world another form. 
Not such the sons of Lapland : wisely they 
Despise the insensate barbarous trade of war ; 
11 



2rfje cScasons. 



They ask no more than simple Nature gives ; 
They love their mountains, and enjoy their 

storms. 
No false desires, no pride-created wants, 
Disturb the peaceful current of their time ; 
And, through the restless ever tortured maze 
Of pleasure, or ambition, bid it rage. 
Their reindeer form their riches. These their 

tents. 
Their robes, their beds, and all their homely 

wealth 
Supply, their wholesome fare, and cheerful 

cups . 
Obsequious at their call, the docile tribe 
Yield to the sled their necks, and whirl them 

swift 
O^er hill and dale, heaped into one expanse 
Of marbled snow, or far as eye can sweep 
With a blue crust of ice unbounded glazed. 
By dancing meteors then, that ceaseless 

shake 
A waving blaze refracted o'er the heavens. 
And vivid moons, and stars that keener play 
With double lustre from the radiant waste, 
74 



Winter. 



Even in the depth of polar night, they find 
A wondrous day — enough to light the chase, 
Or guide tlieir daring steps to Finland fairs. 
Wished Spring returns ; and, from the hazy 
south, 




While dim Aurora slowly moves before, 
The welcome sun, just verging up at first, 
By small degrees extends the swelling curve ; 
Till seen at last for gay rejoicing months. 
Still round and round his spiral course he 
winds, 7^ 



2r!)c Reasons, 



And as he nearly dips his flaming orb, 

Wheels up again, and reascends the sky. 

In that glad season, from the lakes and 

floods, 
Where pure Niemi's fairy mountains rise, 
And, fringed with roses, Tenglio rolls his 

stream. 
They draw the copious fry. With these, at 

eve. 
They, cheerful, loaded to their tents repair ; 
Where, all day long in useful cares employed, 
Their kind unblemished wives the fire pre- 
pare. 
Thrice happy race! by poverty secured 
From legal plunder and rapacious power ; 
In whom fell interest never yet has sown 
The seeds of vice ; whose spotless swains 

ne'er knew 
Injurious deed, nor, blasted by the breath 
Of faithless love, their blooming daughters 
woe. 
Still pressing on, beyond Tornea's lake. 
And Hecla flaming through a waste of snow, 
And farthest Greenland, to the pole itself, 
76 



raiitter. 



Where, failing gradual, life at length goes out, 
The Muse expands her solitary flight ; 
And, hovering o'er the wild stupendous scene. 
Beholds new seas beneath another sky. 
Throned in his palace of cerulean ice. 
Here Winter holds his unrejoicing court ; 
And through his airy hall the loud misrule 
Of driving tempest is forever heard : 
Here the grim tyrant meditates his wrath ; 
Here arms his winds with all-subduing frost ; 
Moulds his fierce hail, and treasures up his 

snows, 
With which he now oppresses half the globe. 
Thence winding eastward to the Tartar's 

coast. 
She sweeps the howling margin of the main ; 
Where undissolving, from the first of time, 
Snows swell on snows amazing to the sky ; 
And icy mountains high on mountains piled. 
Seem to the shivering sailor from afar 
Shapeless and white, an atmosphere of clouds. 
Projected huge and horrid, o'er the surge, 
Alps frown on Alps ; or rushing hideous 

down, 

79 



^i}c Reasons. 



As if old chaos was again returned, 
Wide-rend the deep, and shake the solid pole. 
Ocean itself no longer can resist 
The binding fury : but, in all its rage 
Of tempest taken by the boundless frost, 
Is many a fathom to the bottom chained, 
And bid to roar no more : a bleak expanse. 
Shagged o'er with wavy rocks, cheerless, and 

void 
Of every life, that from the dreary months 
Flies conscious southward. Miserable they. 
Who, here entangled in the gathering ice. 
Take their last look of the descending sun ; 
While, full of death, and fierce with tenfold 

frost, 
The long, long night, incumbent o'er their 

heads. 
Falls horrible. Such was the Briton's fate. 
As with first prow (what have not Britons 

dared!) 
He for the passage sought, attempted since 
So much in vain, and seeming to be shut 
By jealous Nature with eternal bars. 
In these fell regions, in Arzina caught, 
80 



rainter. 



And to the stony deep his idle ship 
Immediate sealed, he, with his hapless ciew, 
Each full exerted at his several task. 
Froze into statues ; to the cordage glued 




The sailor, and the pilot to the helm. 

Hard by these shores, where scarce his 
freezing stream 
Rolls the wild Oby, live the last of men ; 
8i 



W{}t Seasons. 



And half-enlivened by the distant sun, 
That rears and ripens man, as well as plants, 
Here human nature wears its rudest form. 
Deep from the piercing season sunk in caves. 
Here by dull fires, and with unjoyous cheer, 
They waste the tedious gloom. Immersed 

in furs, 
Doze the gross race : nor sprightly jest, nor 

song. 
Nor tenderness, they know ; nor aught of life. 
Beyond the kindred bears that stalk without : 
Till morn at length, her roses drooping all. 
Sheds a long twilight brightening o'er their 

fields. 
And calls the quivered savage to the chase. 

What cannot active government perform, 
New-moulding man? Wide-stretching from 

these shores, 
A people savage from remotest time, 
A huge neglected empire, one vast mind. 
By Heaven inspired, from Gothic darkness 

called. 
Immortal Peter! first of monarchs! he 
His stubborn country tamed, her rocks, her 

fens. 82 



Mmter. 

Her floods, her seas, her ill-submitting sons ; 
And while the fierce barbarian he subdued, 
To more exalted soul he raised the man. 
Ye shades of ancient heroes, ye who toiled 
Through long successive ages to build up 
A labouring plan of state, behold at once 
The wonder done! behold the matchless 

prince ! 
Who left his native throne, where reigned till 

then 
A mighty shadow of unreal power ; 
Who greatly spurned the slothful pomp of 

courts ; 
And roaming every land, in every port 
His sceptre laid aside, with glorious hand 
Unwearied plying the mechanic tool, 
Gathered the seeds of trade, of useful arts, 
Of civil wisdom, and of martial skill. 
Charged with the stores of Europe home he 

goes : 
Then cities rise amid the illumined waste ; 
O'er joyless deserts smiles the rural reign ; 
Far-distant flood to flood is social joined ; 
The astonished Euxine hears the Baltic roar ; 
83 



^f)c ^Seasons. 



Proud navies ride on seas that never foamed 
With daring keel before ; and armies stretch 
Each way their dazzling files, repressing here 
The frantic Alexander of the north, 
And awing there stern Othman's shrinking 

sons. 
Sloth flies the land, and ignorance, and vice, 
Of old dishonour proud : it glows around. 
Taught by the royal hand that roused the 

whole. 
One scene of arts, of arms, of rising trade : 
For what his wisdom planned, and power en- 
forced. 
More potent still, his great example showed. 
Muttering, the winds at eve, with blunted 
point, 
Blow hollow-blustering from the south. Sub- 
dued, 
The frost resolves into a trickling thaw. 
Spotted the mountains shine ; loose sleet de- 
scends. 
And floods the country round. The rivers 

swell. 
Of bonds impatient. Sudden from the hills, 
84 



O'er rocks and woods, in broad brown cataracts, 
A thousand snow-fed torrents shoot at once ; 
And, where they rush, the wide-resounding 
plain 




I's left one slimy waste. Those sullen seas, 
That washed the ungenial pole, will rest no 

more 
Beneath the shackles of the mighty north ; 
But, rousing all their waves, resistless heave. 
85 



2rf)e ^tasons. 



And hark! the lengthening roar continuous 

runs 
Athwart the rifted deep : at once it bursts, 
And piles a thousand mountains to the 

clouds. 
Ill fares the bark with trembling wretches 

charged. 
That, tossed amid the floating fragments, 

moors 
Beneath the shelter of an icy isle. 
While night overwhelms the sea, and horror 

looks 
More horrible. Can human force endure 
The assembled mischiefs that besiege them 

round ? 
Heart-gnawing hunger, fainting weariness, 
The roar of winds and waves, the crush of 

ice. 
Now ceasing, now renewed with louder rage, 
And in dire echoes bellowing round the main. 
More to embroil the deep, Leviathan 
And his unwieldy train, in dreadful sport, 
Tempest the loosened brine ; while, through 

the gloom, 

86 



TOinter. 

Far from the bleak inhospitable shore. 
Loading the winds, is heard the hungry howl 
Of famished monsters, there awaiting wrecks. 
Yet Providence, that ever-waking eye, 
Looks down with pity on the feeble toil 
Of mortals lost to hope, and lights them safe 
Through all this dreary labyrinth of fate. 
'Tis done! — dread Winter spreads his 
latest glooms, 
And reigns, tremendous, o'er the conquered 

year. 
How dead the vegetable kingdom lies! 
How dumb the tuneful ! Horror w ide extends 
His desolate domain. Behold, fond man! 
See here thy pictured life: pass some few 

years. 
Thy flowering Spring, thy Summer's ardent 

strength. 
Thy sober Autumn, fading into age, 
■ And pale, concluding Winter comes at last. 
And shuts the scene Ah! whither now are 

fled 
Those dreams of greatness? those unsolid 



hopes 



89 



^^t Reasons. 

Of happiness? those lons^ings after fame? 
Those restless cares? those busy, busthng 

days ? 
Those gay-spent, festive nights? those veer- 
ing thoughts. 
Lost between good and ill. that shared thy 

life? 
All now are vanished! virtue sole survives, — 
Immortal, never-failing friend of man. 
His guide to happiness on high. And see! 
'T is come, the glorious morn ! the second 

birth 
Of heaven and earth! awakening Nature 

hears 
The new creating word, and starts to life, 
In every heightened form, from pain and 

death 
Forever free. The great eternal scheme, 
Involving all, and in a perfect whole 
Uniting, as the prospect wider spreads. 
To reason's eye, refined, clears up apace. 
Ye vainly wise! ye blind presumptuous! now. 
Confounded in the dust, adore that power 
And Wisdom oft arraigned : see now^ the 

cause 90 



Mintcr. 



Why unassuming Worth in secret Hved, 

why the good man's 
share 



And died neglected 




In life was gall and bitterness of soul : 

Why the lone widow and her orphans pined 

In starving solitude ; while Luxury, 

In palaces, lay straining her low thought, 

91 



3ri)c Reasons. 



To form unreal wants : why heaven-born 

Truth, 
And Moderation fair, wore tlie red marks 
Of superstition's scourge : why licensed Pain, 
That cruel spoiler, that embosomed foe. 
Embittered all our bliss. Ye good, dis- 
tressed! 
Ye noble few! who here unbending stand 
Beneath life''s pressure, yet bear up awhile. 
And what your bounded view — which only 

saw 
A little part — deemed evil, is no more : 
The storms of wintry time will quickly pass, 
And one unbounded Spring encircle all. 




>^ 



92 



H 491 85 





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